It Starts With One
by PurplePantherOfDoom
Summary: I'm Sarah Fatch. I'm an antisocial 27 year-old who moved back to my old home town in south Indiana because of family troubles. One day my dog gets out and I look for him in the woods behind my house. Something happened that I wish didn't... PSA: I HAVE NOT UPDATED BECAUSE THE COMPUTER CONTAINING MY DOCS FOR THIS STORY CRASHED. I HAVE NOT HAD THE WILLPOWER TO WRITE SINCE THEN.
1. Chapter One

It Starts with One

Chapter One: Sosk! You Idiot!

In the begging we are all small insignificant little infants that can only do very simple, basic things to survive the cruelties we call life. Sadly, some of us don't make it till our second birthday wishes, or like most people, live to be adults and die an old boring life at a desk job, getting payed 16.50 an hour just to hear people yell at you all day and tell you how much their life sucks, or how your such a peachy person because the company you work for is so cheap that you can't even have a decent time in the bathroom, let alone lend people money.

This is- well, was- my life before it got completely flipped around by simply going for a not-so-nice hike through my woods out by my boonies house in southern Indiana. You see, I use to not live by the woods(well, not quite like this) all by myself, with no-one around to tell you to turn down that reached rock music of yours, or to get off the computer before you burn your eyeballs to a crisp and go blind. I use to not live by myself, I use to live with my both my 46-year-old parents. That kinda sorta changed after my dad decided to be stupid and try to make a potato launcher with a small tank of propanel; yeah, that didn't end well. He ended up having to go to the hospital, but with all the debt they accumulated after sending three kids to a collage named Hanover for four years, they didn't have enough money to keep the house I am now currently living in. My mom called me bawling saying that they had to send dad to the hospital cause he blew up a tank of propane and couldn't afford to keep the house, so I offered to by the house from her and live there so I could be closer to dad. Inevitably, I had to leave my oh-so-high-paying-job that I absolutely loved, leave my best friend of six years with the very beautiful Oregon, and get a desk job back in Indy with shitty people to yell at me all day. Here's how it all happened...

There I was, walking with my blue little flashlight in hand with a stick in the other ready to beat off any rabid raccoons while shivering in the cold fall air, looking for my stupid German Shepard, Soske. You see here, that idiot darted out the door when I was coming home from work, so now I have to search five, maybe ten achers of woods for an annoying(but lovable) twit like him. Sometimes I just love animals too much for my own good.

"Sosk! Here boy! I swear to god if you don't get your fuzzy ass here your not gonna sleep in my bed with me!" I shouted as I swiped strands of hair that got lose from my bun that I had it in.

"Gosh dang it Sosk! Where are you?" I was getting very frustrated and tired very fast, time going with it; it was almost midnight and still no signs of Sosk. I then hear something that sounded like a dogs whine, "Sosk? Is that you boy?" My mood instantly brightens at the thought that Sosk maybe the animal that made the noise. Being me I start running toward the sound, but also knowing me it won't be Sosk.

When I got there, my gut was right, the animal was not Sosk, but a very sick and twitchy coyote that was walking in circles and whining softly to its self, sometimes making a very, loud annoying whine that sounded like Sosk's.

'_Awe fudgernuggets, why is it that I always get the sick deranged animals?' _I sighed softly cursing my luck while slowly walking away still facing the poor sick thing. I had a bad experience back in Oregon with one of my clients animals(oh? Didn't I tell you? I'm a vet, now you know, and the clients animal was a shitzu just so you know) who unfortunately didn't know had distemper, and can you guess what it did next? If you guessed that it just sat there with it's big eyes and fuzzy face your wrong; the little bugger freaking bit my face! I have a smiley face shaped scar on my face to prove it. You all are probably laughing that I have a smiley scar on my face, but I'm just luck enough that we got the dang dog off me before it did anymore damage to my face.

'_Yeah, that was not a good day. I feel sorry for the dog though, after it bit me the owner asked to put down the dog,' _I shook my head slightly while still walking backwards away from the coyote. I took another step and I hear a very loud snap and my eyes widen, '_ Oh shit! Was that me?'_ I look down at my right foot, seeing a snapped branch, '_Oh fuck! That was me!' _I let out a long string of curses in my head while I slowly look at the coyote while bitting my lip. My eyes widen again as I the see the animal is really pissed off that I interrupted its crazy thoughts, and looked ready to pounce me.

The coyote growled at me and started running towards me, but luckily I had a nice running distance between it and me, so I did just that. With every step I took it was very hard to keep my balance because of how rocky and hilly these woods were; not to mention I've been out here for five hours walking around looking for Sosk, and my legs were killing me.

"Come on Sosk! Where are you when I need a you!" I felt like I was going to start crying because A) had a killer animal chasing me, and B) my asthma was making it _pretty _difficult for me to breath. My eyes were starting to get blurry from unshed tears making it even more difficult to see in the pitch black of the night.

'_Fuck my life! This will be the end of me, Sarah Fatch! I can see it now, the head-lines of the news paper, "Young Adult Eaten by a Deranged Coyote in Southern Indiana!" yeah, it's such a _lovely _way to-' _ I was taken out of my thoughts as I herd a yelp and very loud snarling and barking, so I stop to turn around in the direction of the coyote. What I saw shocked me, made me happy, and shit my pants at the same time, '_Oh my god, Sosk, no, ' _I wanted to cry so bad out of relief and fear for my dog; he was fighting the coyote.

**Oooooh, my first ever cliff hanger! X3 I know this chapter was really short but I promise to make the next one even longer. well it depends on reviews if i should even continue it, cause i an't gonna continue some fanfic that only gets six views a day, no, an't gonna happen.**

**So how about you do me a favor and click on that button? ;3**


	2. Chapter 2

It Starts With One

Chapter2: It's the Fear of Memories

**Short Note From Authoress: I would love to give special thanks to my first reviewer Storm Uchiha and my second reviewer Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD. You guys are my inspiration that keep me writing, you guys are the best. :33 For now on I will try to update every saturday, and there will be a song artist/song every week(hell, maybe even two songs! XD thats if i can't deiced :3) and I will be naming the chapter name off of a song, just any random song that fits fairly well.**

**SONG/SONG ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Memories by Within Temptation and Search and Destroy by 30 Seconds to Mars along with This Is War from 30 Seconds to Mars. SONG FOR TITLE: It's the Fear with a fusion of Memories by Within Temptation. I suggest that you listen to the songs while reading this. :3 idk if it'll fit the story, but its still kick ass so y not anyways? XD lol, i made a funny. How bout you just turn on some kickin rock and read this. Music makes things so much more fun to do!^U^ BTW: these things -( ) without the A/N: thing inside is the characters little note, not mine.**

Fear made my knees buckle; I felt so helpless. Tears were streaming down my face, and I suppressed a sob. The snarling, the barks, the sounds of snapping teeth on thick excess skin. I clenched my fists in anger at being so useless because I was so afraid of what would happen to me if I got involved, and then I was shocked to feel something in my hand, so I looked at my right hand, '_The stick! It's still in my hand? I was so sure that I dropped it while I was running; that or this is a different stick, a magical stick come from the heavens its self!'_ I chuckled lightly at my joke, '_Okay, all jokes a side now, this is serious, Sosk could be killed here,'_ my eyes started getting watery again, but I quickly swiped them away and got up off my knees.

"Pay back time bitch!" I screamed while running full speed ahead towards where the fight was taking place, knowing full and well I won't come out of this unscathed. My face contorted in anger I started beating the coyote off of my dog, but Sosk wouldn't get off of him, at least 'till I accidentally hit him in the head with my stick.

"Oh my god Sosk! I'm so sorry!" I went to my dog with my side to the deranged animal that was intent on killing us; which on my part was the worst thing I could have possible have done, but I didn't care since the coyote looked like it was dead(or at least knocked out for the time being). I checked out my dogs wounds,_ 'These wounds don't look to pretty, a lot of them need stitches and some of the gashes he has will need a draining tube so he doesn't die of infection,' _I sighed and swallowed a lump in my throat while struggling not to bawl my eyes out. I slowly stroked my dogs head while he whined in pain from his wounds.

"It'll be okay Sosk, you'll be fine. Next time though, get off the thing when I say so," my eyes got watery again, '_God, I've been crying a lot today,'_ I smiled in spite of myself and got out Sosks' thin leather leash and hooked it on his coaler, knowing that his injuries weren't so bad he couldn't walk. I then heard something move to my side, and my mood instantly dropped, '_The little bugger just won't die, will it?'_ I quickly grabbed Sosk and looped his leash around a good size tree. While I was getting my flash light I dropped a couple of trees away along with my stick the coyote pounced me. I didn't have enough time to grab my stick, so I had to block its teeth with my right forearm. I screamed as loud as I could as it ripped and tore away at my arm. I tried with all my might to get my stick while trying to keep the thing from getting to my neck and inevitably killing me, but to no avail it was just out of my reach. In my head I start thinking of the song Angels by Within Temptation, giving me and idea.

I punched the coyote as hard as I could on the nose, knowing that animals hate being hit on the nose because it was so sensitive. For a couple of seconds it let go of my arm and shook its head in pain while whining. I took this to my advantage and shoved the coyote off my me and got my stick ready to beat it to a bloody pulp. I could hear Sosk in the background barking his little head off while I was beating the sick animal with my stick; knowing Sosk, he wanting to protect his mistress with all he has, and I knew that he was going to break free of that thin leash at any point so I had to speed it up and end it soon or Sosk might kill himself. The coyote tried pouncing on me again, but instead of getting on top of me like the last time it got shoved of by my stick and it toppled to the ground.

"Take that you biznatch, that's for messing up my arm!" I grinned, but my little victory didn't last long because I soon found a fuzzy thing trying to eat my leg. I tried beating it with my stick as hard at I could, but at some point I missed and smacked the ground instead and broke my stick. I let out a very long stream of curse words as I kicked, punched, and tried shaking it off my leg but the damn thing was stubborn and wouldn't let got. In the end I also tried choking it with my good arm, but the good thing is it let go of my leg, bad thing is it got my good arm and was trying to do the same thing as it did to my right arm earlier but it was weaker and with less force.

I herd a loud snapping sound from a couple of trees away, '_Dang it Sosk! Why can't you just stay on you lead!'_ I was staring to get dizzy from blood lose from my injuries, and then I felt that there was no animal on my arm, trying to rip it to shreds. I look towards Sosk who was battling the coyote again, but this time with more vigor despite his bleeding pelt. To me though, everything seemed to move in slow motion. I could see the faint ere glow of Sosk's some-what white teeth ripping apart piece by bloody piece of the attacking animals skin, blood spraying of me, but mostly on Sosk. I could also see the the out line of the brawling animals, the coyote came too close to Sosks neck for my taste. The tide of the battle changed as Sosk got hold of the opposing animals neck and clamped on it shut making it snap loudly and making me cringe in the proses, and then he collapsed on the ground with a thump.

"Sosk!" I crawled as fast as I could to my loyal dog, which was pretty slow due to the damage my body has taken and blood loss. When I got to him, I could tell right away he wasn't going to make it. I let the water flow from my eyes, letting it sweep away the what blood that was in its past, "Sokey boy, my brave little german, you have done so much for me tonight, an-and I'm going to miss s-so m-much, watashi wa suki desu Sokey-kun, watashi wa s-suki des-desu*," I buried my face in my dogs fur and bawled to my hearts content, as if screaming to the heavens that this wasn't fair, that this wasn't suppose to happen, but yet it did.

A small whine from Sosk got my attention, so I got my face out of his fur and put my face near his while stroking his face with my thumb, "What's wrong Sokey boy?" He whined again, so I got closer to his face, "Yes my little german?" Sosk tilted his head up, licked my face, and whined again; it was like it was his way of saying goodbye and that he love me. Sosk put his head back down on the ground, I swear that there was a smile on him as he closed his eyes and breathed his last breath. I clapped my bloody hands in front of my face, trying to hold in the inevitable sob that was coming up from my throat, but it was just too strong so I screamed, I screamed until my throat couldn't take it anymore. Out of anger I slammed my hand on the ground with my head hanging while I was still sobbing.

I grabbed hold of Sosk and hugged his now life-less form while clenching my eyes shut, trying to get away from my depressing thoughts, the memories. When I re-opened my eyes though, I was not in the forest behind my woods, but I was in a white room with a giant stone arch way that had magnificent carvings on it, "W-where a-am I?" I asked in between hiccups while looking around the bright room. I then spot an outline of someone that was in all white and was sitting on one knee. It then smiled maliciously, "Hello dear Sarah, can you guess who I am? I sure if you think hard enough you'll remember," I then recalled something from when I was in my early teens.

My eyes widen in shock, "Wait a second! Could you be...!" My hands go strait to my mouth in shock.

IT smiled again, "Seems you remember now, why yes, I go by many names, but you know me as Truth," it's smile got even more malicious, "Now then, shall we discuss your payment? How about your arm? Oh, better yet, you heart!"

_To Be Continued..._

**XD yeah, i know, i give you another cliffy. X3 Maybe if you guys give me enough reviewz, i might not have a cliff hanger in the next chapter. ;3 okay now to get to the explaining:**

**watashi wa suki desu = i love you in japanese and the kun at the end of Sosk's name is just a honorific for the people who didn't know. ;) every week i promise the chapters will get longer and longer, I will top this weeks word count next week! I promise! :D**

**see ya next week!^^**


	3. Chapter 3

It Starts With One

Chapter 3: Stranger in a Strange Land

**Ahhhh, third one already? XD I haven't gotten this far in my other story Reborn: MLP(My life as a pikachu). In my first fanfic Kiuya(shiz, i don't even remember how to spell it XD) i got up to ten chapters, i'm hoping on surpassing that. :3 I have no idea what makes this story so different though, i just find myself wanting to write this more. Wait! Maybe it's because FMA has an actual plot! X3 My thanks to Storm Uchiha and Bloody Bonez Alchemist for being my first two reviewers, again. My other reviewers are: Plumalchemyst, 4shadowdice4, and DontMessWithAnime. :3 I don't know about you guys, but i'm having a ball writing this story! :D I've never had so much fun writing!^U^**

**S.A./S.O.T.W: Artist of the week is -drum rolls- Flyleaf! :D they awesome, Song of the week is... Monster by Skillet, another is Viva La Vida by Coldplay! Viva La Vida makes me so sad. ;u; The weird thing is that it was playing on my playlist on my cell(i love phones that are part MP3 players! :D) while i was writing the part where Sosk was protecting Sarah for the last time and dieing. ;U; ok, time to board off of my ramble train and get to song title of the week( or better yet, chapter)**

**S.T.O.T.I.C(Song Title Of The Instant Chapter, lol xD): Its Stranger in a Strange Land by 30 Seconds to Mars. **

**HOPE YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER, oh, and since i have some(hopefully) dedicated reviewers so no cliffy. :3 ...maybe... YOU JUST HAVE TO READ TO FIND OUT! xD NOTE: Ed is 15 in this, and no, its not brotherhood.**

**WARRNIG: THERE'S SOME CREEPY CRAP IN THIS CHAP! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! **

My blood ran cold. It felt like I couldn't move at all(maybe it was because I was still bleeding? You think I would know that). I scrunched up my face in thought, '_Okay, try and remember what anime Truth is from. Why does he want something from me like an arm or a heart anyway? Why do I get the feeling that there's something REALY bad behind that door over there...' _I rubbed my temples lightly in frustration, '_Okay, getting angry will NOT help anything. I do remember I use to watch this show religiously when I was 13-14 years-old, but hell, if I watched it that much I should know! I can still remember all the pokemon there is since I use to fallow that religiously too,' _I was interrupted from my thought by Truth clearing his throat. I looked up at him from my seat by my dead dog(at least I think Truth is a him), he looked kind of pissed; guess he wasn't the waiting type.

Truth sighed, "Come on, how long does it take to deiced what your going to give me as payment? Do I really have to deiced for you, that just takes all the fun out of it," he frowned.

His attitude was really starting to piss me off, "Why the hell do I owe you anything! This is the first time I've ever met you!" I got up from where I was sitting to stand in front of IT with fiery eyes as IT looked up at me.

Truth frowned angerly at me, "Just so you know, you were the one who summoned me so you could go on the other side. Werther you know it or not, this Gate has a toll, and your going to pay," Truth smiled maliciously, and I whipped my head around in the direction that I herd a loud, slow, creak. My heart felt like it just stopped, I couldn't breath, not even move. The eyes, there were so many eyes just looking at me hungerly, waiting to hear me scream bloody murder. That wasn't what scared me the most though, no, it was the one, giant side ways eye that was just staring. That one eye sent what seemed like electricity shooting down my back. It scared the crap out of me, yet captivated me so. I could feel the sheer power radiating from it some how, making me stay in my frozen position.

"Now since it seems you can't make up your mind, it think I'll just do that for you," Truth looked toward my dog for a second,"Good luck, your going to need it," I saw IT/him smile sinisterly one last time before I saw out of the corner of my eyes tiny black hands shoot out toward me and my deceased dog. I tried getting the hands off me by force, but they were too strong. I tried tugging away from them, running, nothing worked, so I just screamed as they drug me into the stone gate along with my dog. All I could see in there was a golden yellow as the Gate Children held me in place. I then start getting a massive headache, like all of the information of the world was being shoved into my tiny human brain. I screamed and cried at the pain, trying again with all my might to get away, to get away from the terrible pain I felt in my head. What I didn't know was that wasn't the last of it, oh hell no it wasn't.

I look at Sosk with one eye open and the other eye closed from pain. He was also being carried by the Gate Children, '_Why in the world would they want a dead dog for? What, are they going to eat Sosk?'_ Just the thought of it grossed me out to no end; imagining tiny sharp baby teeth tearing into the dogs pelt, trying to get to his insides. It about made me throw up my dinner. What I saw next confused me. The Gate Children were squishing him into a ball somehow, making he bones snap as they did. Right then I did what I was trying not to do, puke. After they were done compacting him down into a ball the size of a golf ball, they smiled their creepy smile and took Sosk and shoved him down my throat, '_OKAY! HOW THE HELL IS THIS POSSIBLE?'_ They held my mouth shut as I tried to throw up the ball of dog up.

After I stopped trying to throw up they let go, and then came the worse pain I have ever felt in my whole entire. I screamed bloody murder(which was making the Gate Children VERY happy) and cried, it felt like the outside of my body was on fire, but my insides felt like they were tearing in two. Soon after though, I didn't see golden yellow any more, just nice gentle black as I couldn't feel the pain any longer.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**I was cold and wet, that was the first things I could feel. Then I could feel the equally cold wet ground underneath me, '_Was-was that all a dream? Truth, the Gate, Sosk being...'_ My eyes fluttered open as I herd a loud bang of the familiar thunder and the pounding of rain upon many leaves from trees. I looked around in the darkness from the looming clouds, trying to find Sosk, but very unsuccessfully for I couldn't really see threw the rain. From how light it was I guessed it was somewhere around 8'o'clock.

'_Wait, so I've been asleep for eight hours? OH MY GOD I'M LATE FOR WORK!' _I hurriedly got up from where I was laying to make sure my uniform wasn't all dirty, and then I noticed my arms, '_Okay, this is weird. I could have sworn that I had more wounds than that...' _My face portraying wonderment as I looked over my arms; it seemed that the only scabs I have are from the more deeper injuries, and the less deeper ones, like scratches and shallow cuts, had completely disappeared all together, not a scar or scab left.

I looked at my clothes, and sadly they were in a worse state than even I was; my white work blouse was stained with all sorts of blood and with some sort of black jelly like gunk I have never seen before (not to mention it was wet so you could see right through it to my lovely blue bra, joy), and ripped in some places letting you see my almost flat tummy (I blame the food they feed us at work; always did say I was gonna start bringing my own lunch, but I never did, haha), my black pants had mud and blood all over them and was also really torn where the coyote was trying to use my leg as a chew toy. My hands went up to my dark brown, almost black hair (with some neon green tips might I add, to bad my work place, sadly working as a phone operator, doesn't allow visible unnatural hair coloring, but I'm glad when I put it up in a bun you can't see it, so I get by with it), and brushed dirt and many leaves out of the shoulder length hair.

"Ah, this is just great. How the hell can I go to work like this? They'll think I killed someone! Though it would be kind of funny if I went and Danny wasn't there today. I always did say I would kill him because of his stupidity," I laughed lightly at my joke, " but I really do need to go back to the house so I can change into a more appropriate work attire," I finally look around so I know how to get back to my humble adobe, but nothing seemed familiar.

'_Why in the heck is the ground so much more even than what it's suppose to be? Did I some how end up in someone else's woods? Wait, even if I did, the land would still be a lot more uneven and hilly; somethings not right,'_ I stop for a second to listing to my surroundings, but so far all I heard was birds calling and Wood Peckers drilling in hallow wood for grubs. Then something catches my ear, '_Is that... running water I hear? There shouldn't be any rivers for about 10 miles!' _I start running on the now oddly flat land to investigate the source of the sound.

When I get there after running for ruffly five minutes, I realize that I shouldn't have probably ran the whole way here because now I felt like I was about to throw up again.

I was right though, there was a river here with many rocks surrounding it, so it made it really hard to get to the waters edge to look at my reflection

'_Wait, if the river was five minutes away, I shouldn't have been able to hear it. Unless it had any waterfalls, but from what I can see there are none within a couple of miles...' _While walking to the edge, I about slipped on a very wet mossy rock, but luckily I regained my balance in time to not fall flat on my ass and break it. After the little incident, I got on my hands and knees to see my reflection.

What I saw made me little bit more sick; I was pale, clammy, and sweaty (and no, not from running), and to add to the list I could feel my pulse in my wounds on my arms, along with a massive on coming migraine.

'_This is not good, not good at all! From what I can tell I have/and or getting a really bad infection. This is just freaking great since I'm stranded in a woods that is totally unfamiliar to me!' _I sighed while trying to get up but almost fell right over from dizziness. I stuck out my hand to try and steady myself while the other was holding my head to help ease the pain, but I ended up falling backwards and hitting my head fairly hard against a rock. My eyes got to see the familiar blackness of unconsciousness once again.

~-Third Person Point of View-~

"Bye grandma, see you later!" A young blond girl in overalls shouted as she walked out onto the front porch with a black dog with a metal prosthetic leg.

"Just make sure your back before supper time Winry. I'm sure you'll want something to eat before Ed eats it all," replied back a short old woman with a pipe in her mouth. The girls eye twitched in thought of the human garbage disposal, "I'll make sure of that!" The girl, Winry, said loudly while clutching a wrench. She sighed and laid down the wrench, then they started walking toward her favorite spot in the woods, the river.

Winry watched as the family dog, Den, was prancing eagerly in front of her, wanting badly to prance around in the shallow waters and investigate the new smells that came to him every time he went. When they reached the river Den darted towards the edge, but stopped suddenly as he saw something in the distance.

Winry looked at him, wondering what he was looking at out there, but then she spots the outline of something lying on the ground. She strained her eyes to get a better view, _'Why would someone-' _she didn't have time to finish her thought as Den ran off strait at the figure.

Winry ran with practiced easy across the rocks after Den, "Wait up Den! I don't run that fast!" She yelled as she about slipped on a rather large, wet rock. Winry finally got a breather as Den took his time to sniff unconscious person in front of them. Her eyebrows knitted together in worry for the obviously older girl in front of her as she noticed how pale and sweaty she looked.

She sighed as she got down on her knees to inspect the woman, and right away she noticed the lady's arms, and went into her serious mode.

'_This isn't really good, the wounds are inflamed and are seeping some puss, but that shouldn't have made her pass out,'_ Winry went through theory after theory for why the woman passed out, but the more she looked at her wounds on her arms and leg, the more it didn't add up, '_These aren't severe enough to make her pass out, and the wounds look fresh enough that disease shouldn't have set in right now; unless she has a low white blood cell count, but usually people like that usually avoid going out doors too much, let alone get attacked by some sort of animal,' _Winry 'hmm'ed as she sat there thinking for a bit, '_Wait! That's it!'_ She lifted up the womans head to feel for any skull fractures or worse. Just right when she went a little below the womans crown, she felt a slight bump. She grinned triumphantly, '_Why hadn't I thought of that earlier!'_ Den whinnied to get back the girls attention

"Oh right, sorry Den," The girl smiled and rubbed th back of her neck, "but how am I suppose to get her back to the house, I sure as can't lift her," Winry frowned while looking at the loyal dog. The dog sat on it's hunches and barked at the girl while wagging his tail.

Winry laughed and patted the dogs head, "Do you think you could get Edward and Alphonse? I'm sure Al can do it by himself, but knowing Ed he'll tag along anyway," The girl watched with a smile on her face as Den ran off in the distance, on a mission to get the two males of the household.

"Okay, now something to help you with that fever of yours," Winry ripped off a good part of her pants and dipped it in the cold waters of the river, rung it out, and place it and the womans forehead.

~Back at the House~

The old woman, Pinako, smoked her pipe as she stood out on the porch. Just as she was about to take a puff, she sees something in the distance that was bounding this way. She recognized what it was when it got closer, '_I wonder why he's back so early,'_ the old woman questioned after taking another puff of her pipe.

Den got to the porch and went strait to the door, scratching on it with his metal leg while wagging his tail. Pinako smiled, "Okay, get what your getting and go," she opened up the screen door wide enough so he could get in. Den glanced around the front room for one of the brothers, but from what he could see they weren't in here. He sniffed a couple of times, and he picked up on Eds' sent; from what he could smell, he was upstairs in their room. Den happily trotted up the stair case and right down the hall to the room that the Elrics were in, but the only problem was the door was closed (that was an easy fix anyways so I guess you can't count that as a problem). The dog scratched and whined at the door with vigor.

"Al! Do you think you can make the dog shut up? I'm trying to take a nap," Slurred Ed tiredly.

"Sure! Hold on a second Den, I'm coming," Stated Alphonse happily. As soon as Al opened the door, came barging in the room barking and whining his lungs out. Ed being bull headed, didn't get up on the dogs request, so he took hold of Ed's sleeve and tugged, "Okay, okay, I'm up! What do you want?" Ed rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned.

"Brother, I think Den wants something from us. Maybe Winry's in trouble," stated Al as he looked toward his older brother.

"Al, I'm sure Winry can handle herself. She knows those woods like the her Automail," Reassured the older of the two as he got his shirt on(A/N: yes, Ed was taking a nap in his boxers).

"But brother, what happens if she-!" Al was very worried about their long time childhood friend, but Edward interrupted by saying she was as fine as fine could be while he was pulling up his pants (not his exact words, but close to it). Den knew that he wasn't going to be able to persuade them to come with him, so he would just have to go to more... drastic measures, and he knew exactly what he had to do.

While Ed was getting on his boots, Den swiped his State Alchemist pocket watch off of the night stand and ran out of the room. Ed didn't realize until he was half way down the stairs.

"Why you little mutt! Give me back my damn watch!" Ed chased after the dog down the stairs and out the door while spouting curses at the dog.

"Brother wait!" Al yelled at Ed while running after him, fallowing him into the woods.

~Back With Winry~

Winry took the now warm piece of wet cloth off of the womans head and dipped it back into the river, making it cold once again. As she was placing the cloth back on the other females head, she heard the clank of metal and loud curses.

'_About time they got here, she's getting worse,'_ Winry thought with a small angered frown on her face as she looked at the woman.

"Get back here you damn-!" Ed didn't finish what he was about to say as he spotted their childhood friend while he was chasing the dog. Al saw her too, and waved at her happily, "Hey Winry!" Said girl smiled and wave back at him.

"Hey Ed, Hey Al. I was wondering if you guys could help me; I kinda need you guys to take her back to the house. I would have done it myself but she's to tall and heavy for me," Stated Winry while getting up to let the boys see as they got closer. Ed looked at the woman on the ground a little skeptical.

"Do you know who she is?" Winry frowned.

"Well no, but she really needs help, she's not in that bad of condition, but still, I can't just leave her out here. Al, do you think you can get her?" She said while still frowning at the blond alchemist.

"Sure thing!" Alphonse went over and picked the girl up gently, careful not to bump her head. Ed glared at Den, just now remembering about his watch that was still in the dogs mouth. Dens ears and tail dropped as he let go of the watch. Edward grinned, "Thank you very much!" but then frowned as his stomach began to growl, as if saying to get back to the house and hurry up and eat. Winry and Al laughed while Ed scowled.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny. Can we just hurry up and get back? I'm starving!" Ed put his hands behind his head as he started off walking toward where they originally came from. The other two joined him as they walked quickly back to the house.

* * *

**Just so you know, i don't count this as a cliffy, so HA! ;D Dude! This chapter almost has more words than the other two combined! YAY! xD Oh, starting after the next chapter, i will be updating ever other saturday, not every one instead. I do have stuff that comes up, and I was barely able to finish this chapter in time because I was in town today for most of the day. T.T so I had to stay up and finish it, so thats why the quality is kinda crappy and rushed. See ya next time! :D **


	4. Chapter 4

**It Starts With One**

**Chapter 4:Viva La Vida**

**My thanks goes to Bloody Bonzes Alchemist again for reviewing for me. :3 Your awesome, you know that? X3 BTW: I dont think i ever explained what Sarahs age is; she is in fact 26-27 she's actually 26 and a half(some where around there) cause her birthday in the story is September 18 1983. Sorry its so late guys, i've been busy with school and all that friggin crap. Not to mention my cat died in September(and on the 18, and I had Sarahs b-day mapped out way before he died, so that's a lovely quinky-dink, I also kinda grew up with that cat and loved him to death even though everybody else hated him), so yeah, that sucked Orochimaru Balls(its a thing that me and my friend use when something sucks a whole lot). Bleh. **

**S.A./S.O.T.W: Cold Play is the Song Artist of the week. Isn't that, like, twice in a row that this band has been in this category? Hmm, i guess my ex got me interested in Cold Play, lol; All at Once by The Fray is song of the week.**

**S.T.O.T.I.C: is Viva La Vida by Cold Play.**

~Sarah Pov~

I could feel blankets on me and the smell of rubbing alcohol assaulting my nose, not to mention I was tired and cold, but most of all I felt empty; like I had nothing else to live for. Giving up on life felt like a great idea from my hearts point of view, but my head said said something completely different. It was saying that I shouldn't, and that there is a reason I'm here. Honestly I wanted to listen to my heart, and just stay in the black abyss, but it really didn't feel right.

I guess losing Sosk hit me harder than anything, because the only thing that I really opened my heart up to was the animals I owned and cared for down at the clinic in Oklahoma before, ya know, I had to move so I could be closer to my dad. Its sad that I'm so anti-social that the only thing I've ever loved was an animal, but really animals have been the only living entity that I can really trust; they don't give you BS about how crappy their lives are, or how they complain their boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with them and they want the pity fest, or how they just lied to your f-ing face about how they'll never abandon you, and the next day you get a note stuck on your locker in bold saying your a freak and they don't want to see you ever again signed the bitch who lied to you. If your thinking that I have trust issues, than yeah, your right on the nail. That's why I only have one human friend.

'_I really wish Sosk was here with me right now, I miss him so much,' _ I don't know how, but I could feel tears running down my face in my state of half-sleep, '_ Why do I have to be so god dang weak? If I wasn't I could have saved Sosk, but no, that stupid dog had to go and play hero,'_ I turned my head and clenched my fists as tears came down in torrents. My head filled of images of times Sosk and I had spent together, '_I remember when I fist got the the dork. Oh my god, he was such a handful. Bouncing from place to place like the whole entire house was a trampoline,' _for some reason thinking of happy memories took away some of the guilt of losing him, but yet filled it with an emptiness that felt like it would never go away. Kind of like an oxymoron; the memories were taking away the pain, only to be replaced by a different kind of pain. I guess I really didn't care since all I could do was think of him.

I adjusted my head again noticing the plushness beneath. Odd thing was, the last thing I remember was that I fell unconscious by a rocky river, not in a bed. Then, I began thinking a very optimistic thought that I know has already been disproved to me before hand; was this all some elaborate dream? Just a nightmare that I was just waking up from? But no, I know wanting to believe in such a trivial thing would only make my heart hurt worse, and I would never be able to see my family again, but I really didn't want to listen, so I shut it out.

In my musings I herd a distant voice. I instinctively knew that the voice was not to far away from where I was laying. I quickly stopped my train of thought, and laid still so I could hear what the person was talking about, but after sitting there for a while, I figured out that it wasn't just one person, but two people having a conversation.

"She still seems suspicious to me. There's just something off with this chick, and somethings telling me I shouldn't just ignore it," The voice was male, and by the sound of it wasn't really far into puberty, so he was probably 14-15 years old.

"You don't even know the women yet and your already jumping conclusions! Did it ever cross your mind that this just might be some random person who just needed help, and wasn't out to get you? God, why do you have to be so paranoid?" This voice was a female, and she sounded a little agitated at the male.

'_By the sound of it, they're really close to one another. They might be more than friends,' _my thought ended there as the guy started talking again with a heavy sigh, "I know that Winry, but it's just not that easy; there's always a catch to everything when it involves me and Al."

The girl, Winry if I am correct, sighed knowing that she wasn't going to win this one, "I know it's been hard for you and Al, Ed, but could you please not act this way when she wakes up? Because of the head trauma she might be a little disoriented and confused as to where she's at, and also might have some memory lose, so be on your best behavior."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," the boy grumbled as he was being chastised by the woman. After that, you could hear two pares of foot steps walking up a set of stares, and then a light slam and a click of a door as the two left the room.

"_Okay, I think it's high time that I get up. I really don't want my muscles feeling like jelly later,"_ With that thought, my eyes flickered open and I leaned up to stretch my arms while yawning. My eyes wondered around the room, and then I swung my legs over the end of my bed and stood; though a little shaky, but good none-the-less.

I shivered as a felt a light breeze in the back, realizing I was wearing a women's hospital dress. I frowned at the short "clothing", or the lack for a better word, noticing it was made for women about 5'4-5'5 ish in length, so because of that, the bottom of it was skimming the bottom of my ass. I sighed and tugged at the it to cover my cold bottom while looking for my pants at least. I glanced over at a white wood closet and walked over to it and opened it up, and ta-ti-da, there were my pants! Sadly no shirt, but I was happy with just pants anyways.

Now that my butt was successfully clothed, I decided that I would take a better look around. The only thing that was sticking out to me was a silver pocket watch that was laying on a table that had a weird design on it. Intriguing me, I waltzed over to it and proceeded to try and open it up. It didn't budge, so I tried over and over again to get the blasted thing open. In the end, I walked over to a drawer, opened it, and started walking back over to the table I found the watch on with a scalpel in hand, but froze in mid stride as I sensed a presence standing in the doorway. I took a silent gulp and slowly craned my neck to the left of me to find a very upset looking blond boy; well, upset was an understatement. I swore that if looks could kill, I would be long since died. Knowing that if I simply came out with the truth and told the boy that I had been snooping, I would be dead within a heart beat, so I straitened my back from my hunched position, layed the scalpel and the watch on the table where I found it, and carefully chose what I would say next, "Um, excuse me young man, but you wouldn't happen to know what time it is, and also the date. I kinda of hit my head, and have no idea where I'm at, and who I should thank for taking me in when they could have just as easily left me for dead. My name is Sarah Fatch by the way," I gave way to a small sigh, then smiled slightly as the boy seemed to be steadied by my words, but still did not fully let down his guard; showing that he still wasn't sure on what to expect from me.

His eyes sharpened slightly as he shifted his weight to his left foot, "So, would you like to tell me what you were about to do to my watch just now, or would you at least like explain to me what's up with you. I don't know what it is yet, but there's just something not right about you, I just know it," I gulped softly, for someone who's a lot younger that me (and shorter, might I add), he certainly was intimidating. I bit the inside of my cheek and let lose a small exasperated sigh, '_Oh god, this is going to be a really, really long day for me, isn't it?_'

**$%&dw#$%^&^*(?#%$#%^&cvhrt&%^&#$%**

**I am so sorry for such a long wait and the short chapter! My moms laptop died, and that was what I kept all my stories on, so it took me a while to try and remember as much as I could from the original file for this chapter and write what i could down. I promise, next chapter will be much, much longer and a whole lot better quality too. BTW! I WILL NOT UPDATE VERY MUCH RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT, SCHOOL IS ALOMOST OUT FOR SUMMER, SO YOU WILL HAVE TO WAIT A COUPLE MORE WEEKS FOR THE NEW CHAPTER!**


End file.
